Oakland school board may replace longstanding superintendent

The Oakland Unified school board could be considering whether to push out the district s superintendent of nearly years according to a board member The move could create instability and widespread consequences as the district struggles to repair a million budget deficit and grapples with the possibility of school closures Two weeks ago during a closed session meeting the board discussed terminating Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell s contract two years early board member Mike Hutchinson mentioned He mentioned the board is slated to discuss ending her contract early in closed session at Wednesday night s board meeting a move he declared could cause senior-level district staff to depart If we lose our superintendent and chief business officer at the end of June with no replacements and no plan Oakland Unified School District is doomed Hutchinson commented in a Facebook post We can t let the school board leadership undo the progress we ve made and I won t let anyone push OUSD over the cliff The debate comes as Oakland Unified faces a million budget shortfall and the Alameda County Superintendent of Schools has expressed deep concerns about the district s finances The district is projected to run out of cash as early as the next school year which could lead to another state takeover like the district had in The district was considering merging schools to save costs but no action has been taken And in February the district voted to cut nearly district positions The possible move to push out Johnson-Trammell the district s longest-serving superintendent in more than years comes less than a year after the board approved a final three-year contract extension through That contract included one final year leading the district s day-to-day operations and two years to transfer her responsibilities and prepare the district for her successor The NAACP Oakland branch criticized the anticipated early removal of Johnson-Trammell in an open letter Tuesday and warned that the move could have severe consequences This move if allowed to proceed will disproportionately impact the very students who already face systemic fences our black and brown children English language learners and students with special necessities the organization mentioned The group called on the board to halt any discussions of Johnson-Trammell s termination and encouraged public members to come out to Wednesday s board meeting and speak in aid of the superintendent Related Articles Schools relying on digital surveillance find safeguard still takes a human touch Contract talks between Fremont teachers district fail as viable strike looms California bill aims to make school funding more equitable California State Library s federal aid cut retroactively without warning In test incident for California schools court OKs sexual abuse lawsuit against East Bay district There is no mention of the discussion to terminate Johnson-Trammell s contract on the board agenda for Wednesday night common with personnel matters and closed session items but a inhabitants employee discipline dismissal release matter is included in the closed session agenda Johnson-Trammell did not instantly respond to a request for comment from this news organization The district s communication s director John Sasaki disclosed there is presently no population discussion underway about Johnson-Trammell s contract and directed all questions to board president Jennifer Brouhard She did not right away respond to a request for comment The board meets at LaEscuelita Instruction Center at p m Wednesday